Neutron stars have a mass of the same order as the mass of the Sun. Their size (radius) is of order 10 km, about 70000 times smaller than the Sun. So its mass is packed in a volume 700003 or approximately 1014 times smaller than the Sun and the average mass density can be 1014 times higher than the density in the Sun. Such dense matter cannot be produced in the laboratory. Neutron stars are the densest objects known. It is about the density 'inside' an atomic nucleus. Indeed, one could see a neutron star as a giant atomic nucleus, bound by the gravitational force.
Due to its small size and high density, a neutron star possesses a surface gravitational field about 2×1011 times that of Earth. One of the measures for the gravity it the escape velocity. The velocity one would need to give an object, such that it can escape from the gravitational field into infinity. For a neutron stars such velocities are typically 100000 km/s, about 1/3 of the velocity of light. Conversely: an object falling onto the surface of a neutron star would impact the star also with 100000 km/s.
Neutron stars are one of the few possible endpoints of stellar evolution, therefore sometimes called a dead star. They are formed in a supernova as the collapsed remnant of a massive star (a Type II or Ib supernova) or as the remnant of a collapsing white dwarf in a Type Ia supernova.
Neutron stars are typically about 20 km in diameter, have greater than 1.4 times the mass of our Sun (otherwise they'd be white dwarfs) and less than about 3 times the mass of our Sun (otherwise they'd be black holes), and spin very rapidly (one revolution can take anything from thirty seconds to a hundredth of a second).
The matter at the surface of a neutron star is composed of ordinary nuclei as well as ionized electrons. Proceeding inward, one encounters nuclei with ever increasing numbers of neutrons; such nuclei would quickly decay on Earth, but are kept stable by tremendous pressures. Proceeding deeper, one comes to a point called neutron drip where free neutrons leak out of nuclei. In this region we have nuclei, free electrons, and free neutrons. The nuclei become smaller and smaller until the core is reached, by definition the point where they disappear altogether. The exact nature of the superdense matter in the core is still not well understood. Some researchers refer to this theoretical substance as neutronium. It could be a superfluid mixture of neutrons with a few protons and electrons, other high energy particles like pions and kaons may be present, and even sub-atomic quark matter is possible. However so far observations have not indicated nor ruled out such exotic states of matter.
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2 Some neutron stars that can be observed: 3 Related topics |
In 1932 Sir James Chadwick discovered (Nature Vol 129, p. 312 "on the possible
existence of a neutron") the neutron as an elementary particle,
good for a Nobel price in 1935.
In 1933 W. Baade and F. Zwicky (Phys. Rev. 45 "Supernovae and Cosmic rays")
proposed that the existence of a neutron star, so only a year after Chadwick's
discovery of the neutron!. In seeking an explanation for the origin of a supernova,
they proposed that the neutron star is formed in a supernova.
Supernovae are suddenly appearing new stars in the sky,
whose luminosity in the optical might outshine an entire galaxy
for days to weeks. Baade and Zwicky proposed rightly at that time that
the release of the gravitational binding energy of the
neutron stars powers the supernova:
"In the supernova process mass in bulk is annihilated".
If the central parts of a mssive star before the collapse contains for example 3 solar masses, then
a neutron star of 2 solar masses can be formed.
The binding energy E of such a neutron star,
when expressed in mass units via E=mc2, is the equivalence of 1 solar mass. It is ultimately
this energy that powers the supernova.
Over time, neutron stars slow down because their rotating magnetic fields radiate energy;
older neutron stars may take several seconds or minutes for each revolution.
The rate at which a neutron star slows down its rotation is usually constant and very small:
the observed rates are between 10-12 and 10-19 seconds for each century.
In other words, a neutron star now rotating in 1 second will rotate in 1.000000000001 seconds after a century.
Sometimes a neutron star will undergo a glitch:
a rapid and unexpected increase of its rotation speed (of the same,
extremely small scale as the constant slowing down).
Glitches are thought to be the effect of internal re-organizations
of the matter composing the neutron star, something similar to starquakes.
Such a starquake would register as grade 20 or 25 on the Richter scale.
Neutron stars also have very intense magnetic fields - about 1012 times stronger than Earth's.
Neutron stars may "pulse" due to electrons accelerated near the magnetic poles,
which are not aligned with the rotation axis of the star.
These electrons travel outward from the neutron star,
until they reach the point at which they would be forced to travel
faster than the speed of light in order to still co-rotate with the star.
At this radius, the electrons must stop, and they release some of their kinetic energy in the
form of X-rays and gamma-rays.
External viewers see these pulses of radiation whenever the magnetic pole is visible.
The pulses come at the same rate as the rotation of the neutron star, and thus, appear periodic.
Neutron stars which emit such pulses are called pulsars.
When pulsars were first discovered, they were believed by some to be evidence of
extra-terrestrial intelligences.
Because of their highly regular pattern of emmisions,
they were initially thought to be beacons of some type.
Another class of neutron star, known as the magnetar, exists.
These have a magnetic field of above 1014 gauss,
strong enough to wipe a credit card from the distance of the Sun away and strong enough to be
fatal from the distance of the moon away.
By comparison, Earth's natural magnetic field is .5 gauss, and on Earth a fatal magnetic field is
only a theoretical possibility; some of the strongest fields generated are actually used in medical imaging.
A small neodymium based rare earth magnet has a field of a few thousand gauss,
and most media used for data storage take several hundred gauss to erase.
The processes in a magnetar involve the rotation of the neutron star tangling field
lines until they become exceptionally dense, giving rise to a resonant magnetic field.
See also:
History of discoveries
Some neutron stars that can be observed:
Neutron stars rotate extremely rapidly after their creation due to the conservation of angular momentum;
like an ice skater pulling in his arms, the slow rotation of the original star's core speeds up as it shrinks.
A newborn neutron star can rotate several times a second; sometimes,
when they orbit a companion star and are able to accrete matter from it,
they can increase this to several thousand times per second,
distorting into an oblate spheroid shape despite their own immense gravity (an equatorial bulge).Related topics
Neutron Star was a 1966 Hugo award winning short story by Larry Niven